Marketwire Launches Web-Based Social Communication Platform for SMBs

Marketwire's Web-based Resonate social communications platform is designed to help small businesses harness the power of social media.

Social communications specialist Marketwire announced the launch of Resonate for Small Business, a communications platform with integrated creation and collaboration tools, real-time social media and search engine optimization (SEO) intelligence, national distribution and on-demand measurement aimed at public relations and marketing professionals. Features include keyword research and the ability to monitor social media conversations in real time as PR departments create their content.
As small and midsize businesses (SMBs) grapple with the rise of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others, marketing specialists are looking for ways to help companies with limited IT budgets make the most of the social Web. Marketwires Web-based platform integrates social media monitoring and analytics with traditional press release distribution, giving PR departments the ability to distribute content to traditional media outlets worldwide and across the social Web, as well as measure the resonance of their content and campaigns, online and off and across social networks.

"The 'wire' has always been a very powerful communications tool, and in the last few years, it's evolved into a digital platform that's plugged into newsrooms and social networks with the means to reach everyone, from journalists and bloggers to analysts and consumers. Up until now, it's been difficult to build real-time social media insight from the conversations taking place among those stakeholders into news releases sent over the wire, company president and CEO Michael Nowlan said in a press statement. Marketwire Resonate pulls social intelligence directly into the process of creating and distributing news releases and other content. It lets our clients create that content while listening to conversations on Twitter, Facebook and other online networks so they can better align their messages with their target audiences, and get a real feel for how they make an impact."

Resonate also allows PR departments to monitor social media trends and popularity graphs to see the words and phrases people are using on Facebook, Twitter and other social sites in relation to a particular topic, test and modify the sentiment and tone of their content as they create it, and gain insight into their audience through demographic information, which can be sorted by age, gender and region. The platform is currently available just to U.S.-based small businesses, although the company noted Resonate will be offered to the general business market later this year.
"Resonate gives our clients total control over their communications, from the research and creation stages of their content through to social monitoring and measurement, Tim Lambertus, Marketwires senior vice president of marketing and product strategy, said in prepared remarks. With Resonate, we've put the collective expertise of a digital marketer, PR professional, SEO guru and community manager at our clients' fingertips.

Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.